


Test Results

by orphan_account



Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Unplanned Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-14
Updated: 2015-12-01
Packaged: 2018-05-01 14:53:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5210024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Amy takes an important test, but finds herself too anxious to get the results. Step in Jake Peralta.</p><p>Now updated to include more established-relationship-baby-on-the-way goodness</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

"Hey, Honey! I'm hooooooome!" Jake sings out, throwing his keys into the bowl in the hall and kicking off his shoes. Even he hears the sickly sweetness in his voice, but he doesn't care; he's had possibly the best day ever.

"Guess who just solved the greatest case in the history of cases? I'll give you a clue. His code name is Detective The-Best-Detective!"

He pauses. At the very least he expects Amy to shout back something about him being an average-at-best detective, but the house is silent. He frowns over at her coat hanging on the rail, and her handbag lined up neatly by her boots.

"I know you're here. They don't call me Detective The-Best-Detective for nothing, you know..." He mumbles to himself, putting on his best gravelly Dramatic Cop Voice. He waits for a couple of seconds in case he hears any movement, but the house remains still.

"Ames?" He calls out, suddenly noticing how dark it is. He'd worked late to finish up the paperwork on his arrest, and had subconsciously expected Amy to have left the hall light on for him like she always does when she goes to bed before he gets home. It always unnerves him slightly when Amy doesn't follow her carefully thought out habits. It's usually a sign that something's about to go horribly wrong. Still, there's always his epic tales of heroism to cheer her up if she's still awake. Jake grins to himself and makes his way through to the bedroom.

He finds Amy lying facing away from the door, fully dressed on top of the blankets. His heart does that crazy thing it still always does whenever he sees her after a day spent apart, and he smiles through the darkness. It isn't until he steps forward to lean over and brush her hair from her face that he realises she's still wide awake - her eyes staring blankly into the distance, her thoughts obviously a million miles away.

"Wow, Amy, that's not creepy at all!"

He's surprised to feel her jump slightly at his touch.

"Jake?" Her voice is strained and croakey.

"Yeah... Ames are you okay?" He sits down properly next to her on the bed, while she shifts to turn on the lamp beside her.

All thoughts of his great day dissolve when he sees her face in the light. Her eyes are bloodshot, and there are blotchy streaks of make-up staining her cheeks. She looks so frightened that Jake's heart immediately begins to beat faster - a sympathetic anxiety response that he'd only ever really associated with being out in the field. Certainly he'd never expected to feel so suddenly scared with Amy.

"I'm really glad you're home." She whispers.

Only half-unconsciously, he starts to look for signs of violence; torn clothes or bruising. As a cop he constantly worries about the people he loves - that they might fall victim to the types of crime he deals with daily. It's a feeling he tries to bury, since it's not really helpful to anyone, but his first instinct on seeing his girlfriend like this is to check. With enormous relief, he realises that there's nothing to suggest Amy's been hurt.

He scooches lower and rests his head against the pillow so they can lie face to face. She studies him for a few seconds, before reaching out a hand to lay on his chest. Jake wraps an arm around her and pulls her closer. She buries her face into his shoulder, her breathing shallow but calm. Jake draws her in tight, sensing her need to feel close.

He decides it's best to let Amy talk when she's ready, so he waits like this for a few minutes until she pulls away. She's started crying again. There are small pearls of water hanging from her eyelashes, her brown eyes still awash with tears.

"Ames? What's happened?" A lump has formed in his own throat.

She takes a breath, not quite catching his eye.

"I took a pregnancy test." She blurts.

\---

"Okay. Yeah. Cool cool cool cool cool cool cool cool cool cool... That's really... cool..." Jake frowned a little at himself, but Amy didn't seem to notice. He figured she was just as much in shock as he was. Still, he knew he needed to offer something coherent.

"Hey, Amy, don't look so worried. Honestly, it's okay."

He'd never really thought about it till now. Well, not properly at least. The thought of having a baby was just a nebulous concept that sometimes drifted into his head when he saw cute kids in the park, or whenever he went over to help watch Cagney and Lacey for the Sarge. Sure, he knew that Amy was the one he wanted to start a family with, he'd been certain of that for what seemed like forever now, but he'd never really put a date on it. The few times he and Amy had discussed their plans for the future, it had always seemed so far away. He also knew that Amy wanted to make Captain, and that she'd prefer to have her career fixed before she made a start on a family. What was written in her five-year plan was gospel after all. It was probably why she was so upset with the news, he thought. Amy did not cope well with things happening out of schedule.

Then again, their whole relationship had been one bout of rule-breaking after another. It'd worked well for them so far. Slowly, through the shock, Jake could feel another emotion forming. He was happy. Like, really insanely in love with the idea that Amy was pregnant; that he was going to be a dad. Somehow it seemed just right to him. Except...

"Wait... hang on?"

At this point, judging by Amy's reaction, he reasoned that one of two things could have happened. Either the test had been positive, and Amy was so heartbroken because she didn't want it. Or, Amy was upset that the test had been negative, and there was no baby after all. At this point, Jake really didn't know which option would crush him more.

"What did the test actually say?"

"I don't know."

He gawped at her.

"I... it really freaked me out, and I needed to talk to you about it, but you were stuck on a case so I hid it in the cabinet before it developed..."

Jake couldn't help it. He laughed. A huge guffaw that filled the room and swallowed up all the tension. It was just so completely Amy. He looked down at her, his smile still wide in his eyes.

"But you love getting test results. It's like your favourite thing after flossing and organising your underwear drawer!"

A small, uncertain smile inched across her face.

"Exam results are fine! You can prepare for an exam, Peralta." Jake's smile softened at her use of his surname - they were back on more familiar ground. Amy definitely looked calmer for having said her secret out loud. He waited a moment.

"So, what's freaking you out?"

Jake was aware that many people assumed he was a joker, incapable of adult discussions or emotions. For his part, he played up to that role, since he enjoyed grabbing attention by acting the clown. What most people didn't understand was that beneath all that, he was an incredibly good listener. He always quoted Donkey: people have layers. He struggled with the grown up stuff just like everybody else, but he was always willing to try. Plus, with Amy, things like this seemed a thousand times easier. He wanted to listen to her talk, to hear what she was thinking, to be the one to reassure her. Since the time she'd turned up on his doorstep and confessed that he was the only one she wanted to talk to, he'd felt like it was his duty to make sure he listened to what she said.

He knew that Amy was finding all of this overwhelming. So he listened. He let her stutter and stumble and contradict herself - he consciously made himself her sounding board that let her organise her thoughts out loud. He'd suspected she would worry about not making Captain as a mother, that in turn she would worry that that made her selfish. What he didn't expect was to hear her talk about how terrible a parent she would be. He had to fight really hard with himself not to shoot those ideas down outright, but to let her get all these emotions out into the open where they could talk about them and resolve them properly. He already knew about the abortion she'd had as a young woman fresh out of the Academy, but he listened as she went over it. That time she'd been certain, she said, knew exactly that it was the right thing to do. But now, the thought of getting rid of this baby - if there even was a baby to get rid of - made her feel sick in a way she couldn't explain, even though she couldn't tell if she wanted the test to be a yes or a no.

She spoke for so long that her voice grew hoarse, and Jake's arm went numb beneath the weight of her resting on it. Through all of it he listened, nodding and "mmm-ing" when needed. After a while, she became quiet, her thoughts apparently untangled.

"I'm just really glad we get to find out together..." She said.

"Me too." Jake smiled. He gestured towards her cabinet.

"Now or never?"

Amy nodded. The anxiety had returned to her eyes, although nowhere near in its previous measure.

Jake gripped the small stick in his fist.

"Right, so what's the code here Ames?"

"One line not pregnant, two lines pregnant."

They both took in deep breaths as Jake unfurled his fingers to reveal the little plastic window in the middle of the stick, its two lines glowing out at them like beacons.

"Wow." Jake whispered.

"Wow." Amy echoed.

They turned to each other.

"Two lines pregnant, Santiago."

"Yeah."

"How're you feeling?"

"I... uhm..." She hesitated, frowning. "Relieved?"

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. I'm happy. Really, really happy. I didn't... I thought... I mean I really love you and..."

Jake felt tears prickling his own eyes, a mirror to Amy's.

"Are you sure you want this, Jake?"

"Are you kidding me? I'm going to have a baby with Amy Santiago!"


	2. 18-19

Amy knew she was going to be conflicted from the moment her mother had suggested it. A whole week at home with her family was going to be crazy. Not to mention that Jake - who was caught up with Boyle on a "totally gnarly" case - was going to have to stay behind in Brooklyn while she went home alone. And as much as she would hate to admit it to his face, she was really going to miss him. On the other hand, her mother wasn't one to give her much of an option when it came to family visits, especially now that Amy was pregnant. And if Amy was honest with herself, she really did want to see her mum. She didn't know if it was just the hormones, or the prospect of becoming a mother herself, but she knew that her mum would make her feel much calmer about the whole idea. She had raised eight kids afterall.  
Picking up her bag from under her desk, Amy sighs before making her way over to Jake at the elevator.

"I'm gonna get going now, hopefully I'll be able to beat the traffic... Please behave while I'm gone. And remember what I said about the microwave?"

"'No metal objects.' Jeez, Amy, that was one time!"

Amy simply shakes her head at him before leaning in to wrap her arms around his shoulders.

"Have a great time at home." Jake murmurs, hugging her back. "Call me when you get there."

"Of course."

"Love you."

"Love you too."

"And I love you too, lil Peanut!" He whispers dramatically at her stomach.

"Jake, I've told you, the baby's the size of a sweet potato now."

"Oh. Well, bye lil Yam!"

"You know, a yam and a sweet potato are actually two separate things. A sweet potato comes from the Convolvulacea family, but a yam is a..." she stops at the look on Jake's face. "Charles got really excited about it last Thanksgiving, and now I have to know this useless information forever."

"Mmm'okay. Well, the point is, I love you both way more than Yams..."

"Thanks... Also, we really need to start thinking about names, because all this talk of foodstuffs just makes me hungry."

Jake grins at her.

\---

After a lot of concerned questioning from her parents about her eating and sleeping habits, Amy finally manages to make her excuses and go to bed. It never feels any less strange to come back home and sleep in her old room. There's a "No Doubt" sticker clinging stubbornly to her mirror, and her mother still insists on making up her bed with her old sheets ("They're still perfectly fine, Amy! I don't understand why you young ones always have to be so fashionable when there's plenty more use in things!").

But there's also something incredibly comforting about being back with her family for a while. The house is warm and the smell of her mother's famous chicken soup is still wafting up from the kitchen. She's full of food and her cheeks ache from laughing at her father's jokes. She's incredibly lucky, she realises, to feel truly home in not one, but two places.

Her thoughts wander back to Jake and she feels a small pang of guilt at having left him working. Just as she decides to text him, her phone buzzes against her dresser. She picks it up, wincing at the sudden brightness in the dark room, to find a message from Jake. It's a picture of their fridge at home, the magnetic letters arranged to spell out "idERs 4 NaMEz daNGeR P roLtA".

Amy stifles a giggle. There are already 3 little dots on her screen, but she types in anyway: "No way" and presses send. Almost immediately, her phone buzzes again.

"New u'd say that..."

And then another picture: "idERs 4 NaMEz daNGeR SAmti go"

Amy just closes her eyes against the screen, and sighs in a way that only Jake can inspire: a mixture of pure love and exasperation. She can just imagine him at home, sat on the floor in front of the fridge, pondering it like it was some great case to solve. It makes her so happy to know that he's missing her, and her heart fills at the thought of him thinking of baby names (however terrible they happen to be).

She types back simply "I love you."

"Dam need more letters. Nite Amy. <3 love you."

\---

"Oh my God, Jake!" She doesn't even give him time to say hello once he picks up the phone, instead jumping straight in in her excitement. "The baby kicked!"

"What?!"

"I know! I was just re-reading Great Expectations earlier, and I got to the bit where Pip meets Estella for the first time and then there it was, proper actual kicks!"

"Wow..."

"I know."

"No, I mean, 'wow, our baby is already a massive nerd'."

"Jake!"

"Ames, it's fantastic."

He sounds happy, but Amy knows him. There's something in his voice that feels off to her.

"Jake, what's wrong with you? I thought you'd be really excited? You literally clapped the first time I got morning sickness..."

"I know. And I am, I'm really excited. But, Ames... I missed it."

His voice is so small, so not like himself that for a second Amy is shocked into silence.

"Oh God, Jake... I'm..."

"Ames, it's fine. I'm really happy, honestly. And I'm so glad you told me. Don't listen to me, I'm just being a jerk."

"You're not a jerk."

"Well I'm ruining this moment for you, that's pretty jerkish."

"You're not ruining it."

He doesn't say anything.

"Jake. Don't do this."

"Okay."

Amy tries to keep her voice even, but she can feel the frustration starting to well up inside her. She wants to tell him to let it go, but instead she settles for trying to soothe him.

"There'll be plenty more kicks. And I'll be back home in a couple of days."

"Yeah. Ames, I can't wait to see you."

"Me either... You sure you're okay?"

"Yeah. Love you."

"Love you too, Jake."

They hang up, and Amy realises that all of her previous excitement has disappeared. She sits a moment on the bed, trying to decide whether to ring Jake back and discuss it with him further. She really hadn't expected him to be so upset about missing the first kick. It's not like they spent every day in each other's pockets, and even at the precinct he wouldn't necessarily have been there at the exact right time. She feels utterly deflated, but decides against ringing back. Perhaps she should have waited to tell him in person, she thinks. Slowly, she makes her way downstairs to find her dad out in the garden clearing leaves. Feeling like it's a better decision than sitting by herself moping, she grabs a pair of gloves and helps him to rake the leaves into piles, just like she used to do when she was small. After a while, the rhythm of the work soothes her, and her dad's gentle teasing cheers her up until she's all but forgotten about how much she's worried about Jake.

\---

The house is quiet when Amy finally makes it back home. She drops her bag by the kitchen table, and stops when she notices that the fridge is literally covered in alphabet magnets. In the centre, a small space has been cleared and filled with the word "im soRRy".

She turns around when she senses someone come into the room, and finds Jake standing sheepishly by the door. She smiles warmly at him, which seems to loosen some of his tension, but he still glances down at the floor before he speaks to her.

"I really am sorry, Ames. I was being an idiot."

"Come here."

Amy opens her arms and steps forward, but lets Jake close the rest of the gap. He walks over to her with a sigh, and wraps his arms around her, resting his head on top of hers and breathing her in.

"God, I missed you so much, Ames."

"Me too. And you're definitely forgiven. Let's not talk about it anymore, okay?"

She feels Jake nod, and they stand like this a while, refamiliarising themselves with the other - a week's worth of proximity to make up for.

After a while, Jake shifts and rests his palm gently against her belly. "You've grown... Is that a bump?"

"It's not a bump."

"That's definitely a bump." He kisses the top of her head, both of them aware that she's only pretending to deny the swell of her stomach against his hand.

"Only a little one. A baked potato?"

"I'll take your word for it."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who's left kudos and comments! After watching "Ava", I was kinda feeling broody (it's my age!) so I decided to revisit this. I've got a couple more ideas, so I may keep updating. If you've got any ideas, or if you wanna just get excited about the show in general, leave a comment and I'll love you forever :) x


	3. 30

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Amy's getting uncomfortable, and Jake's nesting. Basically, all the fluff. I love these two.

Wrapped in blankets and curled into the comfy chair Jake had dragged up from the living room, Amy tries her best to doze. Ever since Jake had repainted the box room a muted yellow, and filled it with blankets and soft stuffed toys, this was Amy's favourite place to come to relax. It soothed her to know that Jake's instinct to nest was just as strong - if not stronger - than her own. 

A well-thumbed copy of To Kill A Mockingbird lies in her lap - the copy of What to Expect When You're Expecting abandoned in favour of something more familiar and less anxiety-inducing. For all she wants to feel prepared, any mention of labour is currently resulting in a desperate need to stick her fingers in her ears and sing loudly. 

Amy rolls her hips, trying (and failing) to find a position that will accommodate her bump but leave her aching back supported. Eventually she gives up, and settles with letting the baby poke an elbow into her side. She pokes back gently, and receives a sharp kick in return. She doesn't think she'll ever get over the fact that there's an actual human being inside her. It delights her and grosses her out in equal measure. 

She hears the door close downstairs; the rustling of bags and the faint sound of Jake humming to himself. She considers going down to join him, but even the thought of moving again tires her, so she waits for him to come up to her. When he does, he brings two cups of her favourite fruit tea - handing one to her and settling on the floor next to her chair with the other. Underneath his arm, he's balancing a stack of brightly coloured books. 

"It was looking kinda bare in here." He explains when he notices her watching him, passing the stack to her. There are about 12 or 15 books in a mixture of Spanish and English. 

"Turns out there are all these bilingual baby books, and the woman in the shop reckons it's really good for bilingual babies to learn right from the start and it doesn't even matter if you switch between Spanish and English, kids can like sieve it all out and work out which is which, and that's just like..." He mimes his head exploding. Amy notices he's doing that thing he does - rambling quickly to cover the fact that he's talking about Something Really Important. 

"So I got all the ABCs and the numbers - which, you know, there's Sesame Street for that, and Big Bird did not let me down so this kinda feels like I'm betraying the gang slightly - but I also got all these story ones. Like this one," he points at 'Quiero a mi Mamá porque', "because the baby is obviously gonna love you like for reals realz." 

Amy just gawps at him, her eyes wide and bright. 

"Aaaaaand, I know I'm making presumptions here, but they also had this one," now he shows her 'Quiero a mi Papá porque', "and, well." Here he blushes slightly, but powers on. "It's got in it all this stuff about dads being there to keep their kids safe and warm and singing to their babies. And I want that. That's the dad I wanna be. So I thought it'd be nice." 

"Jake." It's all Amy can manage to say. She's never usually one for getting emotional, but seeing all of this - knowing the thought that's gone into getting these gifts, she's overwhelmed by how much she loves him right then. She doesn't mean to cry, but she can't stop the tears from falling into her smile. Jake doesn't say anything, but his own smile is so soft and warm that she knows he understands how much this means to her. 

He picks up 'Dita y Dito van a la librería'. 

"This one doesn't have any English. But from what I can gather, it's about pigs who love reading stuff. And I couldn't decide whether you'd really dig the reading aspect, or hate the idea of farm animals in libraries. So mostly I'm just gonna enjoy you battling that dilemma..." 

They both laugh. At how ridiculous Jake is, at how much they love each other, at the image of them reading to their baby, at the thought of Amy explaining to their child that pigs don't belong in libraries. 

"Jake, this is perfect. Thank you." She reaches down to kiss him, hoping she can convey without words the wealth of her feelings. He smiles against her lips, the taste of the salt of her happy tears on his tongue. She breaks away, gathering the books and carries them over to the shelf on the wall. She arranges them in size order ("Santiago style." Jake jokes behind her) next to the threadbare cloth lion that Jake has brought back from his mum's attic to decorate the room. Suddenly it hits her. She stares at the shelf; the books that are so much a part of who she is - studious and nerdy - next to Jake's childhood teddy that somehow represents so much of who he is to her - bravery and excitement. Her head spins for a moment at the realisation that this baby is a part of both of them, but rather than panic at the responsibility of raising a child - which has been a constant undercurrent for the past few weeks - she feels utterly at peace. She realises that between them, they'll raise their child to have the best of both their personalities. She turns to look at Jake, who's still sat on the floor sipping tea - finally calmed after spilling out all his excitement. Beneath her hands, the baby is turning cartwheels. She can't remember ever feeling so content in her life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I'm likely gonna keep hopping around the timeline on this one, so each chapter title will give you how many weeks they are into the pregnancy so you can (hopefully!) keep up.
> 
> I wanted go back and revisit Jake's minor freak out from the previous chapter from his perspective, but the idea of him buying Spanish baby books without any prompting from Amy would not leave me in peace, so here we are.
> 
> As always, I'm in love with those of you who take the time to read this, add kudos, and leave replies. If you wanna make suggestions or prompts, then I'd love to hear them! :) x


	4. 28

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Baby name dilemmas. Jake and Amy consult the squad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EDIT: Due to a ~~glaring error~~ hilarious oversight by me, it was pointed out in the comments that Jake and Amy wouldn't name their baby after Wuntch and yep, they never would, so I've changed that section. Thanks to kdhbookworm for picking up on it! :)

Amy wakes up late, thankful that Jake thought to let her sleep. It's not so much the pregnancy that's wearing her out, but balancing her job with planning for the baby. Jake's talents lie in the gestures (both grand and small) which she loves, but it often ends up with her focussing on the more practical aspects of making sure things are ready for the baby. She suspects that even this is a gesture on Jake's part - even she would admit that as tiring as it is to keep on top of everything, she's in her element with the organising. She has specifically bought stationary and a colour coded folder to prove it. 

She spends a moment focussing on the baby. She's sure she can feel them hiccupping, a rhythmic pulse low down in her abdomen. After a while it stops, and the baby resumes its normal squirming. She sighs, and makes her way downstairs to get herself a glass of water. 

As she makes her way over to the fridge, she notices that most of the alphabet magnets that have lived there since she got back from visiting her mum a few months ago have moved onto the counter. What's left is a couple of Ss holding up their latest scan picture and spelled out haphazardly beneath are the words 'mEgan saNTiAgo'. Amy scrunches her nose. She's relieved that Jake is finally grasping her "human names only" rule, but she's not sure about this one. She repeats it to herself a few times while she sips her water. 

"What d'you think, lil Eggplant?" She mumbles distractedly as she reaches for her phone and opens up her snapchat. She takes a quick picture of the name, and types a "maybe" over the top before sending it to Jake. 

They've been going back and forth like this for weeks. Every now and then one or the other will get a text with a new name and no other explanation, or Jake will look up from his computer and across their desks to make a suggestion, only for Amy to wrinkle her nose or hum slightly. Picking the name for a boy had been so easy. It had come to Amy one night while she cleaned her teeth, and as she made her way into the bedroom where Jake was changing out of his work clothes, she simply said the words "Matthew Peralta" and Jake had grinned and kissed her and that was that. Picking a girl's name had been so much harder, and now both she and Jake were convinced they were going to have a girl, simply because the universe would be so amused at the irony. 

At one point, they'd even resorted to asking the others at the precinct. Calling them into the briefing room under false pretenses ("Cake tasting happening in 10 minutes. Not to be missed!") Jake had stood in front of the white board, marker pen in hand with the words "(Human) baby girl names" written in large letters across the top. 

Charles was the first to make a suggestion: Charlotte Peraltiago 

"What?! Seriously, Charles?" 

"It would be so cool for a little girl to be called Charlie for short." He looks pointedly at Jake and Amy. "And Peraltiago, because then you don't have to decide on last names, what with the baby being born out of wedlock. I mean, you guys, would getting married really be too much to ask?" 

"Yes!" Jake and Amy both shoot back in unison. Charles slumps back in his chair, clearly defeated. 

"Okay, well so far so terrible. Gina?" 

"Her name should be inspirational. It should make her dream of being a better person than either of you. Name her after two of the greatest women alive. Rihanna Regina." 

"Nope." Jake mutters, moving quickly on. 

"Terry, Rosa? Do you have any suggestions?" Amy asks, sort of nervously at this point. 

"I'd love to help you guys, but I've got three baby girls already. I'm all out of ideas." 

"I only like one name for a girl. And I'm not telling you. I gotta save that." 

"Wow, come on guys! We can do this! Just ask yourselves: what is the perfect name for the daughter of the two best detectives in Brooklyn?" 

"I don't know. I can't think without cake. You promised us cake, Jakey." Scully throws in, and the meeting dissolves completely. 

\--- 

"This is crazy!" Jake sounds so high pitched with the frustration, but Amy doesn't even think of mocking him for it - she knows exactly how he feels. 

"Ugh, I know." 

It's late - like 1:45 in the morning late. Jake shuffles over on the mattress and presses himself closer to Amy. His hand rests low on her bump, subconsciously finding the spot he knows he's likely to feel the most kicks. His head is resting by her shoulder, and he can feel Amy's breath tickle in his hair. Lying like this soothes him somewhat (he's pretty close to being the little spoon afterall), and he sighs heavily. 

"What about Clara?" He asks. 

"Ooh, I do quite like th... hang on! Wasn't Clara the name of one of your perps today?" 

"Oh shit, yeah. She was actually a pretty cool lady, though!" 

"Jake! I'm not naming our kid after a criminal!" Under Jake's hand, the baby kicks sharply as if for emphasis. 

"Yep. Fair." 

They're silent for a few minutes, listening to the sound of the traffic outside their window. 

"The problem is, all the good names have been wasted on shitty people. Plus, no girl's name goes with Peralta. Are you sure you don't want the baby to have your last name?" 

"We've talked about this, Jake. I can't explain it, I just really want them to be a Peralta." 

He won't admit it out loud, but hearing her so adamantly insist on the baby having his name gives him the feeling of butterflies doing some weird things in his chest. 

"Okay. Well I'm just gonna throw some ideas down. Stop me when you hear one you like." 

"Right." 

He takes a theatrical breath. 

"Mindy, Molly, Marvin, Myrtle, Miriam, Madeline, oh-my-God-Amy-this-is-so-hard, Estelle, Emily, Emma, Eleanor, Eva..." 

Amy's breath hitches, and she gasps "stop!" 

"What? Eva?" 

"No, before that. Eleanor." 

"Yeah?" 

"Eleanor Peralta. That's it. Ellie for short." 

Jake tilts his head so he can see Amy better. His breath catches at the look on her face. Her eyes are wide and shining - she's staring far away, and in his head he imagines she's watching herself calling out the name Ellie to a little girl with messy brown curls. 

"What do you think?" 

"I love it." He says simply, and he really means it. He can't imagine why it took them so long to think of it. 

"Just promise me you won't tell anyone yet. Not a soul. I don't want it to get ruined." 

"I promise. And I also promise to never arrest anyone with that name. Like, even if they're stood over the body holding the knife, I'll be all 'first let's take you to the deed poll place, then...'" 

"Jake." 

"Yep. Sorry."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to crc (I don't know how to link you I'm sorry!) for the prompt "jake actually has to sit down with amy and try to name a child a normal human name". Such fun to be had with this idea, because this is Jake and he definitely wouldn't be able to take it seriously! Then it really got away from me and I couldn't not write in Charles and Gina trying to have the baby be named after them.
> 
> Hope you're all still enjoying! Thank you again to everyone leaving comments. I say it all the time, but it really is the best <3


	5. 31

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt from pinkbelle: Amy has a hospital scare while Jake is at work with a large helping of angsty Jake.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the nine-nine, I present to you Family Ward! Mama Ward, Papa Ward and little baby George Ward." Jake lists off the names triumphantly as they're led past him. George strains against his cuffs to reach for him but Jake merely laughs and ducks easily out of his grasp. "No more murdering for you, Son!" 

He looks up expecting to see his colleague's impressed faces, but finds instead only the disinterested bemusement of the night janitor. 

"C'mon Ronald! This is the best collar all week!" Ronald just sweeps past him. Jake shrugs and turns to Boyle, who's finished signing over the arrest. "What time is it anyway?" 

"About 9." 

"What?! I was meant to meet Amy hours ago!" He pulls out his phone from his jacket: 8 missed calls and 4 voicemails. Man, he's in so much trouble. 

With a certain amount of trepidation - probably equal to what he felt going in to arrest a family of serial killers - he dials the number to listen to his messages. 

"Hey Jake. I... uhm... I'm probably just over-reacting, but I don't feel too good. Can you phone me back and tell me this is just some classic Santiago fretting? Love you." 

Jake furrows his brow. He'd expected an angry Amy, but instead she sounds timid and small, the way she always does when she's doubting herself. He thinks back to this morning. Amy had mentioned maybe postponing their date, blaming it on a return of nausea. But he knows she takes pride in toughing out her pregnancy symptoms without complaint - she would never phone him to worry about feeling sick. Something else must be wrong. He tries to bury his rising sense of unease as the next message clicks through. 

"Jake. I know you're busy, but could you ring me back? I feel really weird, I think something's really wrong... Uhm... okay, thanks." 

Jake's heart stutters. Amy's voice is so worried now, so clearly holding back her growing fear. He groans in frustration at the automated timestamp, willing it to hurry to the next message. Boyle glances over at him, confused. 

"Oh God, where are you?" Her voice is tight - in pain, Jake thinks and a lump rises to his throat. "It's getting really bad. I've phoned an ambulance..." There's a catch in her breath as she inhales sharply, and then a groan of pain before the message cuts off. Jake's heart hammers wildly in his chest: this message was left more than two hours ago. The next is from an unknown number. 

"Hello, this is a message for Mr Jake Peralta. My name is Yvette, I'm a midwife ringing from Brooklyn Hospital Centre regarding your partner Amy Santiago. I'm unable to give much information over the phone, but if you could come in to the OB/GYN department as soon as possible I'll be able to update you on her condition. Thank you." 

The call cuts out, and Jake stares down at his phone. Boyle's asking him something, but all he can focus on is the sudden feeling of nausea deep in his stomach and the rushing of blood in his ears. 

"Amy... the hospital..." 

He can't manage anything else, but Boyle must understand him because the next thing he knows, he's sat in Charles' passenger seat watching the Brooklyn streets rush by. Jake's aware that Boyle is talking to him, offering words of reassurance, but he simply can't process them. Eventually, Charles falls into silence, leaving Jake to his thoughts. Ever since he found out Amy was expecting, he's been reading up on pregnancy and labour. It's become like a project for him, because he wanted to be as involved as possible, but as he'd read more, he'd also become aware of just how much could go wrong. It comes flooding back to him now - every article on pre-eclampsia, still birth and NICU care. And running beneath it all, an unending mantra: it's all my fault, I should have been there, this is all my fault. 

\--- 

"Amy Santiago? Room 203, my love." The receptionist smiles and Boyle thanks her, but Jake is already halfway down the hall, not caring whether Charles can keep up. The initial shock has worn away slightly, leaving only a gnawing feeling in his chest and a desperate need to find Amy as soon as possible. He tries to work out what to say when he sees her. At this point, he still has no idea what's happened and he tries not to imagine the worst, but he doesn't know how he can possibly ask the question that's bubbling inside him. By the time he finds the right room, he's trembling again. He knocks on the door out of habit, but doesn't wait for an answer before letting himself in. 

He takes it all in at once, his detective training kicking in despite himself. Amy is lying on her side on the hospital bed, hooked up to two drips. Her belly is exposed, wrapped only in a complicated looking monitor, its tendrils of wire reaching up to a machine printing out a long strip of data. Her eyes are staring intently at the bank of screens above her bed - watching heart rate and blood pressure readings - but she turns when she hears Jake come into the room. 

He hesitates before stepping forward. 

"Jesus, Amy. I'm so sorry." 

She shakes her head and reaches out for him wordlessly. He sees the tears rolling down her cheeks and swears he's never felt so helpless in all his life. He closes the gap between them and takes her into his arms, pulling her close to him and kissing the top of her head. 

"It's okay, Jake. I'm okay." 

He can't believe how ridiculous this is. She's trying to comfort him, trying to lessen his guilt when all he can think of is how much he's let her down by not being there sooner. 

"My phone was on silent for the operation. We had to wait for the back-up unit. I didn't know..." He's silent for a second, still trying to frame the question in his head. 

"Did... is the baby..?" 

"They're monitoring the heartbeat. And they've given me something to try and stop the contractions..." 

He's about to ask more when he notices her stiffen in his arms. He pulls away to see her face creased in pain. She's breathing faster, but calmly, with purpose. He slips his hand into hers and feels her squeeze it hard, the bones in his fingers pressing together tight. 

"Contraction?" He asks, but she can't answer. He rubs circles at the base of her spine and forces himself to wait quietly - the only noise he makes a gentle shushing - until she can focus on him again. 

"Jake, will you lie with me?" 

He nods and climbs onto the bed next to her. They press together, Jake holding her close while she folds herself into his chest, the way they used to fall asleep when they first started dating. For a long time, there's too much for either of them to say, so they lie together in silence. Jake can feel Amy's relief that he's finally here with her - knows by the way she lies against him that he's forgiven for not being there earlier. He expected himself to feel guilty for longer, but he realises that there are other things far more important now than how he feels. Next to him, Amy takes a breath of discomfort and shifts her position. 

"They've given me steroids to mature the baby's lungs. Just in case the labour doesn't stop." 

Jake can't tell who she's trying to reassure. He places his hand over her bump and feels the baby move beneath her skin. 

"Peraltas are fighters, Amy. It's a well known fact." He murmurs. 

"Yeah." She whispers back. 

\--- 

After a while, there's a knock at the door, and a friendly looking woman in a nurse's uniform wheels in an ultrasound machine. 

"Just need to have a little check on baby, is that ok?" 

Amy nods, and Jake slides off the bed to stand awkwardly to the side. Amy takes hold of his hand gently. 

"Any change in your contractions?" 

"A lot slower. Not as painful." 

The nurse smiles. 

"And you can still feel plenty of squirming?" 

Amy nods, "Yep." 

"Okay, my love. Well we'll just take a quick look, but things seem like they're doing a lot better." She reads the data print out from the monitor on Amy's belly before scribbling down a note on her chart. 

Jake winces as he watches the nurse prodding and poking at his girlfriend. It goes against all his instincts to watch her inflict pain on Amy, even though he knows rationally that she's just doing her job. He rubs his thumb against the back of Amy's hand, and receives a small squeeze of her fingers in return. 

Eventually the nurse seems satisfied, and she flicks on the ultrasound, rubbing cold jelly over Amy's stomach before running the wand over in smooth lines to find the right angle to see the baby. 

"There we are." She says, pointing to a flicker on the screen as a soft pulsing sound fills the room. "Heartbeat is lovely and strong." 

It takes a second before Jake realises that he's crying. He uses his free hand to wipe away the tears and refocuses on the screen. At their first scan, he hadn't been able to make out anything beyond a vague dark blob. And even though there'd been clearer scans since, it would never get old to be looking clearly his baby. Even with all the anxiety and uncertainty, he can't help but smile. 

"I'm much happier with your uterus now too." Yvette smiles down at Amy. "You'll probably still experience some pain over the next few hours, but nothing too severe. We'll keep you in for a while to monitor you some more, but I think for now things are looking really good." 

\--- 

Amy has a few more contractions which Jake does his best to help her through. He carefully memorises the length between them, and is relieved to find that each is further apart and less severe than the last. Eventually, Amy gives in to her exhaustion and falls asleep beside him as he rubs soothing circles over her aching back. When he's certain she's fully asleep, Jake gets up quietly to leave the room and get some air. He only makes it a few paces before he stops dead in his tracks. Charles, Gina and Rosa are all sat together in the small waiting room. 

"Hey, buddy." Charles says, as they all stand up. 

"What are you guys doing here? It's like..." He sees the clock on the far wall. "almost two am!" 

"Charles didn't show up at Shaws." Rosa offers as explanation. "And we wanted to make sure you're all okay." 

"Yeah... Amy went into early labour but she's okay for now." 

"Well listen, JP. I spoke to Holt and haggled you infinity time off work to look after Amy, so you don't need to worry about that." 

Jake smiles at Gina, suddenly overcome with tiredness. 

"I really appreciate you guys being here, but you should head home. I dunno how long we're gonna be here for." 

They others nod and make to collect their coats before hugging him in turn. He notices that each of their hugs last longer and are firmer than normal (with the exception of Charles, whose mammoth hug is only to be expected). Jake watches them leave before he turns back to Amy's room, all thoughts of fresh air abandoned in favour of being closer to his family. 

He settles into the chair by her bed, pulling his hoodie over himself like a blanket. Slowly, he allows himself to fall into dozing, the sound of heart monitors beeping steadily - soothingly - in his ears.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone for your comments and likes and suggestions! Sorry this took a little while to post, it's been crazy busy irl recently.
> 
> Special thanks to pinkbelle for the prompt. Angst is far and away my fav thing, and my teenage years obsessing over Casualty and ER finally came in handy! If anyone has any other prompts (angst/fluff/etc) feel free to comment with suggestions :)
> 
> Also, it was pointed out in the last chapter that Amy and Jake would never name their kid Madeline on account of that being Holt's nemesis. TRUE DAT. (I honestly don't know how that slipped my mind??) So I've gone back and changed the name to Eleanor.


End file.
